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Trail Of The Pink Panther (1982)
Trail of the Pink Panther is a 1982 comedy film starring Peter Sellers. It was the seventh film in The Pink Panther series, and the last in which Sellers appeared as Inspector Clouseau. Sellers died before production began and the film contains no original material apart from the animated opening titles, created by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. His performance only consists of flashbacks and outtakes from previous films. When the famous Pink Panther diamond is stolen again from Lugash, Chief Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is called on the case despite protests by Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom). While on the case, Clouseau is pursued by the Mafia. Clouseau first goes to London to interrogate Sir Charles Lytton (having forgotten that he lives in the South of France). Traveling to the airport, he accidentally blows up his car, but mistakenly believes it an assassination attempt, and disguises himself in a heavy cast on the flight, which causes complications in the air and on land and leads to an awkward introduction to the Scotland Yard detectives at Heathrow. Meanwhile, Dreyfus learns from Scotland Yard that Libyan terrorists have marked Clouseau for assassination; but permits him to continue. Clouseau's plane crashes en route to Lugash, and Marie Jouvet (Joanna Lumley), a television reporter covering the story, sets out to interview those who knew him best. This provides flashbacks to scenes of earlier films; but Jouvet also interviews Clouseau's father (Richard Mulligan), at his winery, providing glimpses of Clouseau's childhood (wherein he is played by Lucca Mezzofanti), and his early career in the French Resistance (in which he is played byDaniel Peacock). Jouvet also questions Mafia don Bruno Langlois (Robert Loggia), an antagonist of the next film, and tries to file a complaint against Langlois with Chief Inspector Dreyfus; but Dreyfus refuses to press charges. The film ends with Marie hoping that Clouseau might be alive, and Clouseau (played by John Taylor, only seen from behind) is seen looking over a seaside cliff, when a seagull flies over and messes the sleeve of his coat. The words "Swine seagull!" are heard in the distinctive 'over French' accent of Clouseau. The animated Pink Panther in trench coat and trilby hat is then revealed in place of Clouseau watching the sunset; he turns around to face the camera and flashes his coat open, but his trenchcoat reveals a montage of funny clips of Peter Sellers from his five Pink Panther films, while the end credits roll. Sellers died over 18 months before production began, and his performance was constructed from deleted scenes from The Pink Panther Strikes Again. David Niven appears in the film, reprising a role he first played in the original The Pink Panther of 1963. Niven was in the early stages of ALS and his voice subsequently proved too weak to loop his own dialogue during post-production. He was dubbed by impressionist Rich Little during post-production. Returning series regulars include Herbert Lom as Chief Inspector Dreyfus, Graham Stark as Hercule LaJoy (from the 1964 Pink Panther film A Shot in the Dark) andBurt Kwouk as Clouseau's faithful manservant Cato. The film also featured Joanna Lumley as an investigative reporter on the trail of the missing Clouseau. Trail featured animated opening and closing credits, which were animated by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, now Marvel Productions. Director Blake Edwards dedicated the film to Sellers, "the one and only Inspector Clouseau". Despite the dedication, Sellers' wife Lynne Frederick filed a $3 million lawsuit against the film's producers and the studio claiming that the film diminished Sellers' reputation. She was awarded over $1 million in damages.3 Edwards' wife,Julie Andrews has an unbilled cameo as a cleaning lady, dressed as her friend Carol Burnett's charwoman character. Contrary to rumour, Alan Arkin (who played Clouseau in 1968's Inspector Clouseau) does not have a cameo appearance as Clouseau in the World War II flashback. The film was a critical and commercial failure. Although the film was marketed as a tribute to Sellers, it was widely panned by critics. It was released for Christmas 1982, and grossed only $9 million.1 In contrast, the previous film in the series, Revenge of the Pink Panther, had made over $49 million.4 Nonetheless, it was soon followed by a further Pink Panther film, Curse of the Pink Panther, which was shot concurrently with Trail. That film did not feature Peter Sellers at all, and was instead employing the talents of Ted Wass as Clouseau replacement Clifton Sleigh. That film would also be a critical and commercial failure.